Sullivan Hill Shareholder Jim Hill was elected as the chair of California Lawyers Association (CLA) by his fellow members of the CLA Board of Representatives at a recent in person meeting of the full 17-member board held in San Francisco, California, on Jan. 18.

The California Lawyers Association (CLA) officially launched on Jan. 1 shifting oversight of the 16 Sections together with the California Young Lawyers Association (CYLA) from the State Bar of California to a new voluntary bar association—the largest state bar association in the country, second in size of all bar associations in the U.S. only to the American Bar Association. CLA’s mission is focused on providing educational and networking opportunities, including events and publications, for members of the Sections—whose topics cover various areas of law and types of practices, ranging from intellectual property law to solo and small firms.

Mr. Hill, as immediate past chair of the State Bar of California’s Business Law Section and incoming representative for the BLS on the CLA Board commented, “The Business Law Section (BLS) along with all other Sections forming the new CLA is looking forward to a new chapter in our more than 40-year history as a leading force for development of law in California. Literally scores of our Section volunteers have worked incredibly hard this past year to emerge as the CLA, soon to be known within and outside our state borders as the bar association for all California lawyers.”

“Leaders of all Sections comprising the new voluntary association will be better able to serve our members–more directly, more efficiently and best of all, more quickly,” said Mr. Hill. As an independent, nonprofit organization, the CLA and its Sections will not face restrictions on communications, operations, and policies that were required of the Sections and their members when they were part of the quasi-governmental State Bar agency. Mr. Hill added, “We will continue to make excellence our standard, just like the leaders of the Sections instilled in us as part of the State Bar. We will become only stronger as part of the CLA.”

A founding member of the firm, member of its Executive Committee and chair of the Insolvency and Commercial Bankruptcy practice group, Mr. Hill practices primarily in the areas of bankruptcy, insolvency and commercial law. His bankruptcy experience includes representation of creditors, bankruptcy trustees and select bankruptcy debtors in Chapter 11 business reorganization cases, and he has served as a court-appointed examiner and mediator. He also works regularly with clients on asset sales and acquisitions, on state and federal court receivership cases, and on business workouts, restructuring and dissolution matters, among other commercial law matters.

About Sullivan Hill:

Sullivan Hill has provided efficient, aggressive and responsive legal representation for more than 50 years. The firm provides full service representation to clients in a variety of industries with an emphasis in insolvency, construction disputes, insurance coverage, real estate, employment, business disputes, civil litigation, and transactional work. The firm has offices in San Diego and Las Vegas.